Turkish court rules to release HDK’s Hamzaoğlu and ESP’s Çelebi

A Turkish court in Ankara ruled for the release from jail of 11 pro-Kurdish and socialist politicians, including Prof. Dr. Onur Hamzaoğlu, co-spokesperson of the Peoples’ Democratic Congress (HDK), and Fadime Çelebi, deputy chair of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), at the end of the first hearing in their trial.

Hamzaoğlu has been in prison for five months on “propaganda” and “incitement” charges over a press release on a Turkish military operation in Afrin, northern Syria.

The defendants went on trial at the Ankara 10th High Criminal Court on Thursday for criticising Turkey’s Afrin operation, which eventually resulted in the occupation of the canton by the Turkish military and its allies, radical Islamist rebel groups.